Mom has custody but, son lives with Dad for 2yrs.

[clutz]

We live in Pa. My fiance has had his  13 yr old son  for the last 2 yrs . They where married got divorced, then got back together. When he moved out his son wanted to live with him. We want to a Lawyer to start the procedings to obtain custody , the lawyer sent one letter ,filed something with the court . The mother responed and got 90 or 30 days, . She may have an anttrony now to fight my fiance on this. We need to know if we can start this on our own , the lawyer has charged us 1200.00 and wants another 1200.00 and alls he did was sent a certifed letter and got a response.
Is there any help that he  can get? We called another lawyer who told him that he can start this process and if it would go to court then get a lawyer.
          The mother does not have much interest in the child, she has seen him about 4 times in yrs time.  Doesn't return his phone calls, promises to call him and don't. But, her mother does have interest in the child and is willing to pay for the lawyer. Our money is tight but we need get this done.

[ksmarks]

Why is the custody part important? If the son lives with you?   Check your states court web site, and check the state bar site as well, they have advice and information on how to go about it on your own. 

  All custody battles are ugly, and should not be entered into lightly, the only victors are the attorneys, and the residual hostilities poison relationships permanently.

[*iLUVmySD*]

So is there any existing custody order?

In my husband's situation, BM had default custody by NV state law but there was no official order. After SD had been living with us in AZ for 2 years my husband was able to get temporary emergency custody in AZ because BM was threatening to come to AZ from NV and pickup SD due to my husband not BM paying child support. After that my husband and BM settled on him having primary custody in mediation.

[4honor]

My next door neighbor had a son. BM was originally given custody. Later BM ok'd the son to live with his father and had CS stopped.  Biofather had custody for 4 years. Later, when the parents had a disagreement (stupid reasons) BM showed up with the cops and the court order and took custody back.  For good measure, she hit him with back support (two years). Cost the father nearly the two years of support to defend (was $300 behind by the time the CS ws set and ordered.)

Long story short, get it in writing that you have custody. (Notarized statement from mother would be good AT LEAST.)